Dr. John Evans:

I alluded to this in my response to Deputy Ó Murchú's question. The issue is the difference between misinformation and disinformation, and then illegal content. The Digital Services Act targets misinformation and disinformation via Articles 34 and 35, which deal with systemic risks. If misinformation and disinformation on a platform presents a risk to electoral integrity, to public health or to a number of other areas - I think the Deputy has these two key areas in mind - that platform can be taken to task by the regulator. The European Commission has responsibility for that part of the Digital Services Act. I can talk a little about some of the cases that the Commission has open. It has a portfolio of approximately ten open cases. There are four cases open into pornographic websites. There were three but there are now two cases open into TikTok. Coimisiún na Meán is involved in those. There is one open case into X which is looking, among other things, at the issue of whether the risks presented by misinformation and disinformation are adequately addressed by mitigations on that platform. The precise kinds of issues the Deputy spoke about are being tackled right now. The regime is still early at under two years old so it will take a bit of time for the cases to come through and for them to see the light of day. I expect to see results on that quite quickly.